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PH(N)RA AGM Information

At the PH(N)RA, Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on the 12th September, I presented the extended version of my Chairman’s report.

PH(N)RA Recruitment

As part of our succession planning we are looking for new members to join the committee, previously we have advertised on the website and have sent out emails to our mailing list.

I have recently created another advertisement to go in a future Crawley Borough Council e-newsletter to Pound Hill residents. Last week this was forwarded to Pav Randhawa, who is the CBC Community Development Officer.

Gatwick Airport

In July 2011, the recommendation from the Davis commission was that Heathrow would be the best option for expansion, however they also hedged-their-bets by saying that Gatwick was still a viable option.

In summary:

Heathrow was the only option that satisfied the desired financial returns.

Heathrow was deemed as more accessible, with access from all directions, whereas Gatwick has limited access from North and South only.

In October 2016 the Government gave its support for a new runway at Heathrow Airport. The decision is to be subject to a ‘full and fair’ consultation before it is finalised in winter 2017.

We will continue to monitor feedback from this consultation. However, in my opinion, Gatwick would require considerable investment in surrounding infrastructure for it to ever become a viable option.

PH(N)RA Promotion

PH(N)RA have been involved in a number of activities to help raise the profile of the association

Victorian Picnic

PH(N)RA were in attendance at the Victorian Picnic on Sunday 16th July. We provided Hook-a-Duck and Hoopla which proved to be very popular with both the children and their parents!

The Victorian picnic is going from strength-to-strength, and we look forward to seeing you all there next year.

Town Wide Forum

We have continued to attend the Town Wide Forum meetings introduced by CBC. These meeting allow the various associations from across the town to share ideas and best practice. Some of the items discussed, included fund raising, grant application and solutions to common neighbourhood issues.

We have met with Bob Lanzer (WSCC Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Highways) to discuss parking problems. For the next meeting Peter Lamb (Leader of CBC) is planning to attend.

Neighbourhood Watch

PH(N)RA were in attendance at the AGM of the Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation on the 20th October

Crawley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCCG)

We had a meeting with Dr Amit Bhargava from CCCG who was until recently it’s Chief Clinical Officer. Whilst it was difficult to see how we could support the CCCG, PH(N)RA agreed to post their promotional material on our website and we reported back what we believed to be some Crawley specific health issues.

Speeding

The number of people using the estate as a rat-run appears to be largely unchanged, and there still appears to be an small number of people who pay no regard to the speed limits.

This is evident on roads such as Bycroft Way, St. Mary’s Drive, Chaucer Road, Grattons Drive, Pembroke Road, Somerville Drive and St. Catherines Road. The recent accident on St. Catherines indicating that the current speed calming measures along that stretch of road are somewhat ineffective.

To determine the impact of the new housing at Forge Wood, and changes to existing road junctions, I think we need to monitor the traffic flow through the estate.

There are still a number of problem areas near Three Bridges that suffer from commuter parking, and I recently found out that flats at Three Bridges (Trafalgar Gardens) have paid parking that some residents avoid, by parking on St Mary’s Drive.

There are some issues with holidaymaker and other ‘long term’ parking, at roadsides and/or in Laybys. Unfortunately unless the vehicle is dangerously parked, causes problems for the emergency services or is untaxed, there appears to be little that we can do about it.

The position on parking by the current administration, is that WSCC is the highways agency so parking is their problem. Whereas I believe that the lack of parking provision with new developments is exasperating the problem, and just blaming WSCC is ‘throwing in the towel’ rather than doing something about it.

I accept this is a very difficult problem due to the number of vehicles on the road, continued town expansion and increasing house prices (keeping children in their family home for longer).

Report it
Report parking issues to Dan Holloway via email carparking@crawley.gov.uk please use this email to report impassable or dangerous parking, in particular if you feel that such parking would hinder the emergency services.

Worth Park Gardens

Last year PH(N)RA donated a bench to Worth Park Gardens, this was initially located in the courtyard at Ridleys court. I am now pleased to announce that the bench has been relocated to a ‘more prominent’ position adjacent to the Monkey Puzzle tree that we also donated.

PH(N)RA have also offered some money towards planters at Worth Park, either four small ones at the entrance to Ridleys court, or to contribute towards the fixing of an original planter donated from the Fred Dench estate.

A number of artwork installations have been introduced to Worth Park Gardens in the last year, including the Timeline Totem and three Wooden Cows.

The ‘Timeline Totem’ was completed in November 2016, after being carved from a storm-damaged tree by West Sussex chainsaw sculptor Simon Groves in just seven days.

The ‘Wooden Cows’ were completed in April 2017, and in keeping with the history of the park, they are located close to the ha-ha. They also ‘explain’ the purpose of the ha-ha, a walled ditch intended to be invisible from the house, used to keep cattle from straying into the formal gardens.

Recently we have had a “wildlife disaster” at Worth Park Lake. Where due to a low water level, more than 50 ducks and geese died as a result of algae poisoning. Whilst the situation has recovered as the water level has increased – CBC are looking at options to prevent this happening again in the future.

Forge Wood Estate / North East Sector

The development at Forge Wood is continuing, however this has not been without its setbacks. More of the land has been deemed as unsuitable for housing due to issues with drainage and because the development must contain 1900 houses, there is no other choice but to squeeze the houses closer together. (To increase the dwellings per hectare)

Some road junction changes are already under way – such as the junction of Crawley Avenue (A2011) and Balcombe Road (B2036), were two way traffic flow is being introduced to allow Forge Wood traffic to get onto the M23 without needing to travel down to Hazelwick roundabout (this effectively stops people, from needing to performing a ‘U’ turn).

The Forge Wood Primary School has opened for the new academic year in its new buildings, previously the school was a pre-fabricated modular build. The staff and students were really looking forward to the new facilities that greeted them after the summer break.

Website Statistics

For the last twelve months

Visits

48,930 Total – 139 people per day

Posts / Articles Published

62

Emails sent

4

Service interruptions

None

Ward Councillors

The three ward Councillors for Pound Hill North are

Richard Burrett on 01293 522338. Richard is also a County Councillor at West Sussex County Council (WSCC)

Tina Belben on 01293 438625. Staring her second year as Ward Councillor for this area.

Kevan McCarthy on 07879 841570, Starting my third year as Ward Councillor and as PH(N)RA Chairman.

Crawley Borough Council (CBC)

We have a new chief executive at CBC Natalie Brahma-Pearl who has recently taken over from Lee Harris.

On the 7th August 2017 Natalie met up with the local councillors for a tour of Pound Hill North. giving Tina, Richard and myself the opportunity to showcase the ward and highlight any local problems.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to both, Jane Stanford who manages the Peterhouse Parade noticeboard and Chris Beech who manages the Wakehams Green noticeboard.

Thank you to Jim Swift, who does our printing and provides the AV equipment for the A.G.M.

During the year the Committee met six times and all meetings were well attended. Thank you to everyone on the Committee for their ongoing support and efforts.

We would like to take the opportunity to pass on our condolences to Sally Blake (former Mayor and Pound Hill North Councillor) whose husband Keith recently passed away. Keith himself was a former Mayor and ward Councillor for Gossops Green and more recently, he was actively opposed to expansion at Gatwick Airport.

Latest News

Road junction improvements at Three Bridges are currently under way, details are here on our Website, this link includes plans for each of the seven junctions

There is a proposal for a Travellers site near Copthorne Road (A2220) and Land At Lower Hollow Copse Copthorne Road Copthorne West Sussex

Planning – Application Summary

DM/17/3519 | Proposed change of use of land to residential to form two Sites. Site A – proposed laying out of 12 permanent pitches for the gypsy and traveller community. Erection of a site manager’s office and amenity blocks and laying out of internal roads, parking, and associated drainage works and landscaping. Repositioning of vehicular access to Hollow Copse and close off the existing. Site B – proposed laying out of 4 permanent pitches for the gypsy and traveller community; associated access roads, drainage works and landscaping. Modifications to the existing vehicular access to Copthorne Road. | Land At Lower Hollow Copse Copthorne Road Copthorne West Sussex.